September 21, 2021
Ever notice the stereotypical teamwork poster on the walls of your high school math class or gym teacher’s office? I am sure you did, but did you pause to really read the quote before assuming it was just a cheesy one-liner about working together?
I recently came across one such poster that grabbed my eye that read, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
With my high school days far behind me and a current job in the field of continued education, this poster has much more meaning to me now than it would have had in my school days. The simple, yet impactful words made me ponder the idea of teamwork in the workplace today. With a majority of training migrating to the virtual world in the past year, how can teamwork reach its full potential through the confines of a computer screen?
Speaking of teamwork and training, how do you view employee training? Do you see it as a risk—a potential loss of profit if employees advance themselves and then choose to leave? Shift your perspective to consider this: What may be an even greater risk is the employee who stays in your company without training. There is so much to say here, but it boils down to the simple fact that untrained employees have no sense of teamwork, common goals, or ownership in the success of the business as a whole. Without these qualities, they often lack the motivation to put forth their best effort.
If you’re still not convinced of the merits of team training, let me tell you in just two words how easy it is to implement: online education. AICC’s partnership with The Packaging School allows for member companies and all respective employees to receive the value-add of training programs free. And with more than 80 online courses in both English and Spanish, all related to the packaging industry and the manufacturing environment, you’re sure to find something that suits the current needs of your employees. Sounds too good to be true, right? But even more exciting is the news that AICC and The Packaging School have recently started a program that takes this online experience one step further.
This new program, Administrator Training for the Learning Management System (LMS), gives any company looking to raise the bar for its employees a seamless team training process. Setup, training, support of the LMS platform for one employee (who becomes the designated admin), and courses are available for this customized group of employees. Companies utilizing this service can access their group within the larger AICC branch to keep track of coursework, groups of learners, or even specific employees across all of their global groups and offices, helping companies stay ahead of everything training related—from attendance and test scores to certificates awarded. If it sounds too complex, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! The Packaging School holds two training calls with each participating company for onboarding needs and any other questions.
A recent member company utilized this service and quickly onboarded more than 50 learners to the platform, all with the autonomy of the admin/manager in charge of training being able to oversee user progress, assign pertinent courses to address specific needs of the individual user, and assign course deadlines.
By incorporating this program into your work culture, you and your company can make training a team effort, define specific goals and learning outcomes for your team, and train with purpose. A side benefit comes with the designation of an enthusiastic and supportive admin who acts as coach for the team at large. With back-end access to the data and progress of each learner, the admin can better provide instruction, tools, resources, and encouragement to help employees reach their full potential. The ability to take these courses simultaneously and on set schedules also allows employees to collaborate more effectively and share their knowledge more efficiently. After all, two heads are better than one.
What’s it going to be? Are you ready to drive change within your organization and reach those uncommon results?
Julie Rice Suggs, Ph.D., is academic director at The Packaging School. She can be reached at 330-774-8542 or julie@packagingschool.com.
Alli Keigley, production coordinator at The Packaging School, contributed to this article. She can be reached at alli@packagingschool.com.
